ADSL: Surf's Up?
By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 4, 1998; Page N70
IT SOUNDS TOO COOL to be true -- an Internet connection that
downloads over 10 times faster than a 56-kbps modem, and that works
over your current phone line while still allowing you to make voice calls as
you surf the Web.
It's called ADSL, which stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line,
and Bell Atlantic is introducing the service at the end this month in some
parts of the Washington area. ADSL works by transmitting to and from
your computer on an area of bandwidth that is unused during voice calls. It
requires a special modem and the installation of a "splitter" at your home
line, which peels this unused portion of bandwidth off and reserves it for
Internet transmission. What's more, this connection stays open constantly,
meaning that ADSL users won't have to log on every time they want to
visit the Web.
But here's the catch: A prohibitive stack of onetime fees -- for the service
connection, DSL modem and installation -- which add up to a grand total
of $523 if you want to get started with ADSL using an Internet service
provider other than Bell Atlantic.net. However, subscribe to Bell
Atlantic.net's service for a year under their current special offer and that
installation cost comes to just under $200, with monthly ADSL service
with Bell Atlantic.net costing $60. For $40 a month, after the startup fees,
you can buy Bell Atlantic's speedy ADSL service without Bell
Atlantic.net's Internet access, but for the moment there's no information
available about what other ISPs you can use this service with.
This has some ISPs, who would like to provide their customers with
ADSL service, in a foul mood. Although Bell Atlantic's ADSL Web site
offers a friendly invitation to ISPs to become ADSL service providers,
Paul Heller, president of Heller Information Services, an ISP based in
Rockville, complains that Bell Atlantic is not being forthcoming enough with
information about how ISPs can offer this service to their customers.
Howard Leadmon of ABSnet Internet Services feels the same way.
"We've chased (Bell Atlantic) left and right," in an effort to find out about
how to get ADSL service. Leadmon says he has heard "not a peep" from
Bell Atlantic despite his efforts.
For Bell Atlantic's part, spokesman Larry Plumb says that the sales force
responsible for selling to ISPs only started responding to ISP requests for
information last week. Mike Volgende, the company's director of
marketing for remote access and video services, says that requests from
ISPs have been "in the hundreds." "From where I sit, I want to
interconnect with as many ISPs as I can... The more the merrier," he says.
Hopefully, for Web surfers with a hankering for fast ADSL Web access,
the wait is almost over. |
